Survey of Top Students Reveals Sex Assaults, Suicide Attempts

A survey of some of the nation’s highest achieving teen-agers released Tuesday reported that 20% of the female students said they had been sexually assaulted by someone they knew. Of that group, 17% said they had tried to commit suicide.

The results, from the Who’s Who Among American High School Students 24th annual survey, indicate that top students are not immune from the violence and troubles facing teen-agers in America.

The survey also did not define sexual assault--a broad term that can have widely varying interpretations. A similar study by Who’s Who last year found that 14% of the female students said they had been raped or sexually assaulted.

The survey does not pretend to be representative of all teen-agers, said Who’s Who spokesman Andrew Weinstein.

Questionnaires were mailed to 5,000 students selected randomly from the 700,000 students in Who’s Who, and 40% returned responses.

On the subject of suicide, one-third of all students surveyed said they had considered taking their own life. But of those who reported being sexually assaulted, 56% said they had considered suicide and 17% said they had tried to commit suicide.

By comparison, 4% of students who did not report being the victims of sexual assault said they had tried to kill themselves.

Although the students were not asked if the sexual assault was the cause of the suicide attempt, the conductor of the survey inferred that there was a causal relationship.

“You can see so graphically what a devastating impact that has on young women,” said Paul Krouse, publisher of Who’s Who Among American High School Students, which conducted the survey of 1,957 students with A or B averages earlier this year.

“It’s very disturbing that 4% said they had tried suicide, but when it jumps to more than four times that amount for those who have been sexually assaulted, that is something we all should be jumping up and down about,” Krouse said.

Students are listed in Who’s Who if they have an A or B average and are nominated by their teachers or guidance counselors.